Canadian Veterans have served our country with bravery, honour and dignity. One of the important ways we honour them is by maintaining their gravesites in perpetuity.
Today, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, announced the successful completion of a five-year project to address needed repairs to Veteran grave markers maintained by Veterans Affairs Canada in cemeteries across the country.
In Budget 2018, the Government of Canada invested $24.4 million, over five years, in the Department's Grave Marker Maintenance Program to undertake over 54,000 outstanding repairs. During the five-year project, an additional 60,000 repairs were made to Veteran grave markers.
A portion of the project funding was also used to repair infrastructure at cemeteries with large numbers of Veteran graves, including the two departmental cemeteries: Fort Massey in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Veterans' Cemetery (God's Acre) in Esquimalt, British Columbia.
As the project comes to an end, maintenance work will carry on. We will continue to visit the gravesites of Canadian Veterans, inspect their grave markers and ensure they receive the care they deserve.
